I'm fairly new to tuning cars and doing mods... i just want 2 know d difference between a short ram intake and a cold air intake...

thanx in advance...

ryan [stock '05.camo.green.xb 08.16.04]

 

Welcome to the board. First of you would get much better answers if you said this in the xB or even off topic section. Dear Scion aint the right area. Now to answer your question. A short ram is just that. A short Intake pipe with a Air Filter located in the engine compartment. Normal will give about a 2% HP increase. Now a CAI is a longer set of intake pipes. They normal locate the filter out side of the engine compartment, some times in a fender, behind a fog light, maybe just below the engine near the road. With a CAI you gain about 5% HP the down side is with the filter that close to the road you have a better chance of sucking up water with that thing. I hope this is what you where looking for.

 

dang... that was a pretty quick reply! yes that's exactly the answer i was hoping 2 get... well explained! thanx!

p.s.
sorry about the wrong post...

ryan [5.speed stock '05.camo.green.xb]

 

Your welcome. Dont worry about the place. At least you should have a better idea now & you got a answer to your question still. If you are thinking of getting a Short Ram or CAI I would say go for the Injen CAI. Its a 2 part system So on those nice days with no chance of rain you can run it as a CAI. When you think it might rain the system can convert into a normal Short Ram. So you get 2 intakes for the cost of 1.

 

cool! i will definitely take that into consideration... do u have an idea how much those cost?

 

One of the sites sponsor sales them. Its www.vividracing.com you can get them for $239.99+shipping. Now to compare if you just want the normal Short Ram thats $179.99+shipping. So hope this helps. Also some of the other things you might want to look into is a Header, Axle Back Exhaust or Cat Back, Wheels & Tires, Strut Bars, Sway Bars & the list just goes on. Depends on what you want to do I guess. I take it with the intake your looking for a little more power. The main thing to recall is this engine is 108HP. I think its like 92hp to the ground. So you add a Short ram & gain about 1-2hp to the ground & with a CAI you gain something around 3-5 depending on a multitude of things.

 

Chucksu has helped me out alot already...but I want to cover something that he hasnt. The main difference between them deals with air density. Cold air is more dense in general, so when the cold air intake sucks in the 'cold air' from in front of the motor, and it will cause the ECU to inject waaay more gas to deal with the more air, thus it running 'faster'. The short ram will also help the car run faster, because the stock air system is VERY restrictive, whereas the short ram isnt. The short ram will however, suck in the warmer air from the engines heat. Hope that helps explain the dynamics of them. If you have ever driven in the mountains, you notice the car runs really 'weak', this is the same theory, but opposite.

 

Yes all true. Thats the down side to where I live, ~5000 above sea. I cant recall the normal rule of thumb, but I think its for every 10* you can cool the intake air, its like gaining 1hp. Also if you want to go into the topic more, pipe size. design & length all play a part on how well it will work. If a CAI had like 10 90* bends it would not flow that great, each bend would slow down the speed the air could travel. Thats why on a xB the CAI can be great, they can run a almost straight pipe right behind the fog light.

 

just a question. assuming one lives in a four season climate. Does the cai or short ram react differently in results due to outside air temp?

would not your results in summer be greater with a cai then in winter?